knot knot

Server Setup

The knot server requires a configuration file, environment variables, or command-line parameters for setup. In this tutorial, we’ll use a configuration file and run the knot binary from the command line.

Step 1: Generate the Configuration File and Encryption Key

First, generate a configuration file using the knot scaffold --server command, and then create an encryption key:

knot scaffold --server > knot.toml
knot genkey

This will generate a stub configuration file. You’ll need to edit the file as follows:

  • server.agent_endpoint: Update this to the host IP and the port from listen_agent. For this tutorial, the host IP is 192.168.1.100, so agent_endpoint should be 192.168.1.100:3010.
  • server.url: Update this to https://knot.internal:3000 for the tutorial i.e. use http rather than https.
  • server.wildcard_domain: Update this to *.knot.internal:3000 for the tutorial.
  • server.encrypt: Replace this with the output of the knot genkey command above.
  • server.badgerdb.enabled: Set this to true to use BadgerDB for data storage.

Example Configuration File

Below is the updated configuration file (knot.toml):

knot.toml 
# Server configuration
[server]

# Address and port to listen on
listen = "0.0.0.0:3000"

# Address and port to listen on for agents
listen_agent = "0.0.0.0:3010"

# Address and port for the agents to connect to
agent_endpoint = "192.168.1.100:3010"

# The URL to the Knot server (used for the web interface)
url = "https://knot.internal:3000"

# The wildcard domain to expose the web interface of spaces on
wildcard_domain = "*.knot.internal:3000"

# Encryption key for protected variables (knot genkey)
encrypt = "2gJcpKPGqDK8JWUCdgCeQQx1uZwP8fhe"

# Optional server zone, defaults to the hostname
#zone = "myservers"

[server.terminal]
webgl = true

# MySQL storage
[server.mysql]
enabled = false
# MySQL host if prefixed with srv+ then SRV+ lookup will be performed
host = "localhost"
port = 3306
user = "root"
password = ""
database = "knot"

# BadgerDB storage
[server.badgerdb]
enabled = true
path = "./badgerdb/"

# Redis storage
[server.redis]
enabled = false
# Redis host if prefixed with srv+ then SRV+ lookup will be performed
hosts = ["localhost:6379"]
password = ""
db = 0

[server.nomad]
addr = "http://127.0.0.1:4646"
token = ""

# [server.cluster]
# advertise_addr = "wss://knot.example.com/"
# key = "VF9hmdXZyzNF3rcP6M0P" # knot genkey
# peers = [
#   "wss://knot.example.com",
#   "wss://knot1.example.com",
#   "wss://knot2.example.com"
# ]

# Optional nameservers to use for SRV lookups
# [resolver]
#   consul = ["192.168.0.4:8600"]
#   nameservers = ["192.168.0.2:53"]

[log]
level = "info"

DNS Resolution

To allow access to websites hosted within spaces, knot uses a wildcard DNS. Spaces are created with URLs in the format <user>--<space>--<port>.<wildcard_domain>.

Depending on your network setup, you may be able to point the domain names (knot.internal and *.knot.internal) to your computer’s IP address. If not, you can enable the internal DNS server by adding the following to knot.toml and forwarding DNS requests to knot for resolution:

knot.toml 
[server.dns]
  enabled = true
  listen = "0.0.0.0:3053"
  records = ["A|knot.internal|127.0.0.1", "A|*.knot.internal|127.0.0.1"]

# Use CloudFlare DNS servers for any unknown record
[resolver]
  nameservers = ["1.1.1.1", "1.0.0.1"]
systemd-resolved

For systemd 246 or newer, create the following file to forward .internal requests to the knot server:

/etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/knot.internal.conf 
[Resolve]
DNS=127.0.0.1:3053
DNSSEC=false
Domains=~internal

Then restart systemd-resolved:

systemctl restart systemd-resolved
Dnsmasq

Add a configuration file for the .internal domain:

/etc/dnsmasq.conf.d/knot.internal.conf 
server=127.0.0.1:3053
domain=knot.internal

Then restart dnsmasq:

systemctl restart dnsmasq

Step 2: Start the Server

Run the server using the following command:

knot server --config knot.toml

Any errors will be displayed in the terminal.

What’s Next